'Motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors.' Essay

'Motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors.' Discuss this in light of the relevant theory on motivation - Essay Example Because change is important and must be dealt with in a persons life, it is important to take a look at theories of motivation. We also know that motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors. Motivation can be defined in many ways but it is basically why people do what they do. We talk about how people are motivated by food and shelter needs or because they want a good job or because they want to change their circumstances. Many people will note that self-esteem is built into the existence of motivation because you must have it in order to engage in many situations. As an example, when you achieve something you want to do it makes you feel good. At the beginning of this situation if you have a strong self-esteem, you may be motivated to do a task to get what you want. You might decide to go back to school in order to gain a degree that will move you forward in your profession. Self-esteem is important in this situation because it creates the catalyst that you will use to get to your goal. On the other side, once you have achieved your goal and received your degree, your self-esteem is at play because in feeling good, you are able to share your good fortune with others. H ence, self-esteem is very important to developing a solid place in life. No one has been able to define what motivates people though many have researched the issue. Researchers have found that there are many different ideas, thoughts or processes that motivate people and generally no two are alike. For this paper, we shall examine several theories and then examine how the theories work in social situations. There are a variety of theories that tell us why and how an individual is motivated to change. A basic theory of motivation was Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow (as quoted in NetMBA, 2007) an individual has certain basic needs that must be fulfilled before they can begin to work on higher level